Map of Piauí
Piauí is a first-level division of Brazil. Its largest mapped city is Teresina, with about 907,000 people in the metropolitan area. The interactive map below is centred on Piauí, and the tables list its 7 mapped cities along with the ports nearest to them.
- Cities Mapped
- 7
- Largest City
- Teresina
- Country
- Brazil
Interactive Map of Piauí
About Piauí
Piauí (, pyow-EE; pronounced [pi.aˈwi] or [pjaˈwi] ) is one of the states of Brazil, located in the country's Northeast Region. The state has 1.6% of the Brazilian population and produces 0.7% of the Brazilian GDP.
Piauí has the shortest coastline of any coastal Brazilian state at 66 km (41 mi), and the capital, Teresina, is the only state capital in the northeast to be located inland. Unlike the rest of the area, Piauí was first colonised inland and slowly expanded towards the ocean, rather than the other way around. In the southeast of the state, the National Park of Serra da Capivara is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The park has more than 400 archaeological sites and the largest concentration of rock paintings in the world, in a landscape dominated by canyons and caatinga.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia: Piauí (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Piauí in Depth
History
The state has many notable archaeological sites, including Serra de Capivara National Park and Sete Cidades National Park, which are rich in remains of prehistoric Paleo-Indian and sedentary-based Indigenous Brazilian complex cultures.
Early settlers in the region included Francisco Dias d'Ávila from state of Bahia, who brought the first herds of cattle to the area; and Domingos Afonso Mafrense, from Portugal, who founded what is today Oeiras.
In the 17th century, many impoverished noblemen and Jesuit priests, as well as black and Amerindian slaves, settled there. The first large-scale cattle farming also arrived with these settlers. Large estate owners seeking new pastures for their livestock arrived from neighbouring states such as Bahia and Maranhão.
Geography
Piauí is bounded on the west by Maranhão, on the east by Ceará and Pernambuco, to the west by Tocantins, and to the south by Bahia. It has a short Atlantic coastline on the north.
The Parnaíba River forms the boundary with Maranhão throughout its entire length; the state lies almost entirely within the basin of the Parnaíba and its tributaries. Part of the state on the Atlantic coast and along the lower Parnaíba is low, swampy, and historically malarial. South of this the country rises gradually to a plateau with open campos.
Economy
Piauí is one of the poorest states of Brazil. The service sector is the largest component of GDP at 60.1%, followed by the industrial sector at 27.3%. Agriculture represents 12.6% of GDP (2004). Piauí exports include essential oils 19.5%, soybeans 17.1%, woven cotton 15.1%, cashews 12.6%, crustaceans 12.4%, and leather 8.3% (2002).
Grupo Claudino is the largest industrial company with headquarters in the state. They have annual sales of around R$700 million.
Transfers from the Federal government are estimated to represent around a third of state GDP.
The state government has been involved in a number of initiatives to develop aspects of the state's economy. 10,000-18,000 hectares of land worth a reported R$50 million was given to Brasil Biodiesel, a green energy company.
Demographics
According to the 2022 census, there were 3,271,199 people residing in the state. The population density was 13 inhabitants/km2.
Urbanization: 60.7% (2006); Population growth: 1.1% (1991–2000); Houses: 791,000 (2006).
The last census in 2022 revealed the following numbers: 2,120,880 Brown (Multiracial) people (64.8%), 740,322 White people (22.6%), 400,662 Black people (12.2%), 6,198 Amerindian people (0.2%), 3.078 Asian people (0.1%).
The population of Piauí is mostly Christian. According to the IBGE, it is the state with the lowest proportion of Protestants, and the highest proportion of Catholics in the country.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Piauí (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Piauí: Key Facts
| Population | 3,271,199 (2022) |
|---|---|
| Area | 251,756 km² |
| Capital | Teresina |
| Head of government | Wellington Dias |
| Established | 1889 |
Facts from Wikidata Q42722 (CC0).
History of Piauí: Empires and States
The atlas records 7 polities whose mapped territory included part of Piauí, from The Spanish Empire in 1619 CE to 2024 CE. They are listed in the order they first appear.
| Polity | Period here |
|---|---|
| The Spanish Empire | 1619–1639 CE |
| The Portuguese Empire | 1640–1823 CE |
| Empire of Brazil | 1822–1889 CE |
| Brazilian Republic | 1890–1966 CE |
| Unitary State of Brazil | 1932–1945 CE |
| Federated Republic of Brazil | 1967–1986 CE |
| Republic of Brazil | 1987–2024 CE |
Historical Maps of Piauí
Piauí on the world map in each year one of these states held it:
Derived by testing mapped cities against dated territorial polygons. Dates are when the polygons cover this place, not the polity's whole lifespan, and polities absent from the source dataset are not listed.
Visiting Piauí
Piauí is a state in Northeast Brazil. It has the shortest coastline of any northeastern state. Piauí is one of the poorest states in Brazil, and the economy is largely agricultural.
Travel notes adapted from Wikivoyage: Piauí (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Largest Cities in Piauí
7 cities mapped. Ranked by metropolitan population. A port city's harbour is written up on the page of its sea.
| # | Name | Population | Region | Role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Teresina | 907,000 | Piauí | Admin-1 capital |
| 2 | Parnaíba | 138,008 | Piauí | Populated place |
| 3 | Picos | 57,495 | Piauí | Populated place |
| 4 | Floriano | 48,587 | Piauí | Populated place |
| 5 | Piripiri | 44,864 | Piauí | Populated place |
| 6 | Campo Maior | 31,739 | Piauí | Populated place |
| 7 | Barras | 21,597 | Piauí | Populated place |
Ports in Piauí
1 port mapped. Ranked by approach channel depth, the figure that limits which ships can call. Harbours link to their write-up on the page of the sea or coast they lie on. Assigned by the nearest mapped city, so features near the boundary may belong to a neighbouring division.
| # | Name | Channel Depth | Class | Sea | Max Vessel |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tutoia | 49.4 m | Very Small | Atlantic Coast of South America | point_of_interest |
Piauí: Quick Answers
- Where is Piauí?
- Piauí is a first-level division of Brazil, in South America. Its mapped cities centre on 5.0275° S, 42.1846° W.
- What is the largest city in Piauí?
- Teresina is the largest city mapped in Piauí, with a metropolitan population of about 907,000.
- How many cities are in Piauí?
- YearMaps maps 7 cities and towns in Piauí, with a combined metropolitan population of about 1.25 million. This counts mapped settlements, not every municipality.